Deals
by Mad Hatter Usagi
Summary: Shizuo and Izaya begin a strange relationship when Shizuo drags the flea back to his house to get laid. Deals are made that coincidentally progress their relationship further. Ikebukuro's finest trying to work out their feelings isn't always clean business. T for themes, language, and suggestions. Izaya's OOC a lot. Shizaya.
1. Deal 1

Shizuo walked down the dark street tiredly. He was alone, heading back to his apartment after a long day of catching people for Tom. He needed to unwind, badly, but didn't know how he would accomplish that. He was much too tight from working, as he had every night for the past week. It hadn't happened before, so he was pretty confused about what to do for it.

The street lights flickered as a few moths swirled around them. Another person was walking the other way, toward him. They were small, thin, and Shizuo could hear the annoying chuckle coming from the other man. He stopped in his tracks as he identified instantly who the person was. Izaya Orihara was walking as if he hadn't a care in the world. Izaya hadn't a clue that Shizuo was walking on the same street, he was too consumed in himself.

Shizuo had managed to keep a secret from the all-knowing information broker for years. It was the simple fact that Shizuo had fallen for the maniacal, annoying flea. He only attacked the flea because he couldn't stand the attraction, and he didn't know how to go about confessing. Such a thought was ridiculous; him confessing to Izaya.

"Izaaaayaaaa..." Shizuo growled.

The littler man looked up, shocked that he hadn't noticed the beast's proximity before, then smiled devilishly, "Why hello there, dear Shizu-chan. What are you doing here?" His monster was here, and that made everything a bit better, but also a bit scarier.

"Going home. And didn't I tell you not to set foot in Ikebukuro?"

Izaya looked slightly nervous, Shizuo was coming closer, and leaving him pressed against a wall with no escape. He was cornered. "Did you? Must have slipped my mind. I **was** wanting to see you though. I wanted to see if I could-"

He was cut off by Shizuo's hands. They went around his neck quickly, and soon the two men were only inches apart. Izaya looked scared for once, he hadn't ever been caught by him before, well, except for that one time he had gotten away by stabbing Shizuo in the gut. He didn't have his knife with him this time. But instead of choking the flea, Shizuo did what Izaya would have never thought possible.

Shizuo pressed his slightly chapped lips to Izaya's soft ones and kissed him. Izaya was stiff and shocked at first, he couldn't comprehend that the monster that he had lusted after for so long was kissing him. Soon, though, Izaya was holding Shizuo's wrists and keeping himself up so he could have enough air to continue the kiss without suffocating. After a few more moments, Shizuo had invaded the flea's mouth with his tongue, and Izaya wasn't putting up much of a fight, he was just mewling every few seconds.

After a few minutes, Shizuo reluctantly pulls away from the kiss and stares at the captured flea. Izaya is flushed beet red and very aware of Shizuo's fierce brown eyes staring at him through the sun glasses, he's still holding his wrists, because he doesn't really want to die at the moment, although he did want to crawl into a hole and stay there for a year.

Without warning, Shizuo pulled Izaya away from the wall and put him over his shoulder. Izaya squeaked, "What the fuck? What are you doing, you monster?!"

"I'm taking you back to my apartment," Shizuo said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Wh-why?" Izaya asked nervously, a tremor creeped into his voice.

"Because I need to fuck someone, and you're here," he said matter-of-factly as he began walking down the street towards his apartment.

Izaya's eyes widened, then he began to squirm and struggle, "That's rape! Don't you fucking dare, MONSTER! I'll kill you for this!"

Shizuo held him tighter, "Won't be rape, since you seem to want it. Don't think I can't feel that hard-on on my shoulder."

Izaya stopped instantly, he hadn't realized he was hard, but he knew now it was true. "Dammit...fuck you...FUCK YOU!" He repeatedly hit the larger man in the back with his hands, but it wasn't getting him anywhere.

"Nah, it'll be the other way around tonight," Shizuo said, unlocking the door. He walked in, closed and locked the door behind him, and set Izaya down. He looked the flea in the eyes and said very seriously, "You know being here puts you at a serious disadvantage, so it is extremely unlikely you'll be able to leave. If you let this happen easily, I'll never tell another person, or thing, etcetera. We can both take care of things without it being violent and no one will ever know. I'll never try to blackmail with it or anything. Can we make a deal?"

"You aren't the boss of me! I won't-" Izaya began to say, but was cut off once again by the other. Shizuo's lips were on his own, but the kiss progressed much faster than before. Shizuo had managed to slide his tongue into the other's mouth with ease, exploring the flea's mouth as if he had known it for years. The larger man pulled the smaller into his arms, and the smaller made no move to escape.

In fact, after the initial shock, Izaya grabbed Shizuo's shirt collar with both hands and kept it in a death grip, keeping his monster extremely close. Small, pleased and pleading noises came from him as Shizuo kissed him with an eager experience that surprised him. After breaking the kiss, Izaya looked downward, still keeping him close, and muttered, "Fine...Deal." Shizuo then lifted the flea into his arms and they kissed as he carried the smaller man into the bedroom.

...

The next morning, Izaya woke up groggily. He felt the weight of something on his side, and skin was pressed to him. He opened his eyes as the previous night flooded back to him, along with the ache it brang to his ass. A slight panic quickened his heart rate, but when he saw his monster's sleeping face it slowed to a normal pace. He looked so peaceful, a look rarely seen on his face, never by Izaya's eyes.

Izaya's legs were brought up near his chest while he had his head rested on Shizuo's shoulder. The monster's arm was draped aross Izaya's body, almost protectively, as the other was under the flea, holding him close by his back. Izaya stared at him, extremely comfortable, yet he would never admit it. Shizuo was waking, and the flea had no idea what he was going to act like.

As the larger man opened his eyes, he looked down at Izaya. "Mornin'," he said simply.

"Good morning," Izaya responded, slightly shocked he wasn't greeted with a death threat to leave the apartment and never speak of the night before.

They both sat up, very aware of each other's nakedness, and of the small pink hickeys that dotted each other's skin at their necks. It was embarrassing, but a slightly happy sight. Izaya crawled out of the bed, but couldn't find any of his clothes, they were all hiding or far across the room. So, since he couldn't bare to be naked around the beast for one more second, he snatched up Shizuo's shirt from the day before and put it on. It was large on him, coming down to his knees and the arms went at least eight inches past his finger tips.

Shizuo chuckled, because it was cute to be reminded just how small Izaya actually was. He usually had a downright evil attitude that made up for his size, but he was feeling sort of lost at the sheer unlikelihood of the situation. Shizuo got up and pulled on the pair of boxers from the previous day, the ones that Izaya had pulled off with his teeth before throwing them across the room. He then led the smaller man from the bedroom to the kitchen.

"What do you want for breakfast?"

Izaya stared up at the blonde as he fumbled with one of the buttons self consciously, "Scrambled eggs." He was stuck with the completely out of character conversation between them, and it felt confusing and good.

"Bacon too?" Shizuo asked as he pulled out everything, along with a carton of milk, and another of orange juice. He poured some milk for himself, and a glass of orange juice for his guest.

"Yeah," Izaya said as he climbed onto the counter to sit, he didn't like being so small in the beast's home, so he wanted to be somewhere taller. He took his cup and held it in his shirt-covered hands.

As his guest kicked his feet and looked at the floor, Shizuo made breakfast. Suddenly, Izaya spoke again, "Shizu-chan? Why're you doing this?" He kept his gaze to the floor.

"After last night, I at least owe you breakfast. I'm not that much of a beast."

"My ass would beg to differ," Izaya shot back.

Shizuo smirked. "You seemed to like it last night. A LOT. In fact you-"

Izaya was flushed pink as he interrupted him, "Don't! I remember what I was saying, I'd rather not hear it from you."

It was quiet for a few moments.

"How do we go from here? All of my plans are scrambled now..." Izaya said, his game was going to take a nosedive if he didn't know how to handle his monster.

"I don't know, where do you want it to go? Back to before?" Shizuo asked, focussing on the pan with the eggs.

Izaya was silent. He knew what he wanted, but was embarrassed to say it outright. All of his confidence had abandoned him as soon as he had seen what Shizuo had hiding in his pants the previous night. "I don't know about back to before...that was getting a bit boring."

"Well, until you find out, we can go back to before. If you want it to change, just call me, I'm sure you can find my phone number somehow." Shizuo handed the smaller man a plate with his bacon and eggs. "For now, eat up."

Izaya set down the empty cup and ate, thinking about his options. Later, Izaya was allowed a shower, and soon after he left dressed in the same clothes as the day before. It was their little secret, he kept reminding himself. They would tell no one. Since that was the deal.


	2. Deal 2

The next day, Izaya just happened to be returning from messing with the random citizens of Ikebukuro and ran into Walker and Erika. They were chatting animatedly about their favorite manga series pairings, and were deep in conversation. But as soon as Erika saw him, the two otakus walked to meet him.

"Woah! It's rare not to see you being chased by Shizuo!" Walker exclaimed.

"Speaking of Shizuo, he has hickeys too. Rather fresh. You know, almost like the ones you have. But his are smaller, while yours are bigger. I wonder..." Erika speculated, her yaoi radar working quite well.

"Are you implying something?" Izaya asked, his tone dangerous.

The tone didn't reach them, and Walker laughed, "Yeah, did you fuck Shizuo?"

"No! There's no way I would fuck that monster," Izaya said loudly.

A vending machine flew threw the air and landed beside them. Izaya laughed and turned to the direction from whence it came, "Ah, Shizu-chan found me!"

"IIIIIIIIzaaaaaayaaaaaa! What the fuck did I tell you about coming to Ikebukuro?!"

That's when Izaya turned and ran, waving over his shoulder to Walker and Erika. Shizuo followed as always, throwing vending machines, mail boxes, and lamp posts. They littered the streets and sidewalks as the two wove through the city. Izaya managed to hide in an alley by taking a quick right after turning a corner.

"Dammit! I'm gonna kill that fucking flea! Damn louse, annoying the shit out of me!" Shizuo growled, but not with his usual ferocity.

Izaya giggled, but soon found that the usual excitement from annoying the monster was empty. It wasn't nearly as fun as what they had done in bed. That annoyed him. How could he stand the boredom? Shizuo was the most entertaining part of his games, and he had come to have an affection for him. It was not okay to lose his fun.

He wanted more from his monster, and he couldn't deny it.

So, grudgingly, he took out his cell phone and typed in the monster's number. He had memorized it, but hadn't put it in his phone contacts. He had stolen Shinra's phone a few years ago to get the number, and had planned to use the information to bug Shizuo, but had never put that into action.

The phone rang several times before it was picked up. "What?" Shizuo growled.

"Come meet me at my office later. I need to talk to you about another deal, Shizu-chan~"

"Sure," the edge in his voice was dulled, which made Izaya flush pink.

They each hung up. Izaya was completely red with embarrassment and happiness, which made him really irritated. He clenched his fists and kicked over a trashcan, growling. "Dammit! Why does he make me feel like this?! THIS wasn't a part of the plan!"

Eventually, he calmed himself down and made his way back to his office. Namie had made a couple of coffees, expecting her boss to be back. Izaya took one and sipped from his mug as he flipped through a magazine. He twitched at every strange sound and was always looking up.

"You seem agitated," Namie commented.

"Is that any of your business, Miss Namie," he snapped.

The woman shook her head and sipped her drink, "You usually like to brag about your little games, or your work."

"This isn't a game! Damn him," Izaya said, his hands clutching the cup tighter.

"Hm?"

"You know, you have the day off. You can go home now, I don't need you here."

Namie set her mug down, grabbed her purse, and left. When she got in the elevator, Shizuo was coming out of it. The woman raised her eyebrows, usually Shizuo was much angrier, especially when Izaya was involved. She smirked, thinking of the man in the office who Shizuo was obviously meeting.

Back in the office, Izaya heard the door open. He knew instantly that it was Shizuo, so he looked up and watched the large man walk through the doorway. "Good to see you, Shizu-chan!" Izaya teased, smirking at him.

Shizuo sighed and shook his head, "Shut up, just tell me what you want."

Izaya stood, set the magazine and mug down, and walked over to stand in front of Shizuo. "I want you. I'm bored with the routine."

Shizuo sent a skeptical look at the shorter man, "You're fucking with me."

"I'm not."

"Prove it," Shizuo said.

Izaya grabbed the lapels of the beast's shirt and pulled himself up to place a kiss on his lips. It was a reflex to kiss back for Shizuo. After a few moments, they parted. "And the deal?"

"Sex without telling anyone. The chasing just for show."

"Deal."

The kiss was resumed, and Izaya felt them back up to the desk. He pushed everything off and laid back, staring up at the larger man. More kisses, clothes removed, more touches. ECSTACY.

Later on, Shizuo left the building with a slight smirk and his hair was a bit mussed up. Up in the office, Izaya was pulling his clothes on and smiling that snarky smile. His eyes were still hazy from the recent orgasm, and he was blushing a bit as he relived the experience in his head. The deal was good.

((Glob! This is a lot shorter. Sorry gaiz! Well, they're gonna be at different lengths each time I suppose. Anyway, I already have a funny idea for chap. 3, and a...math, I don't know, interesting, chap. 4 planned. They may end up switched...Anyway, I've got IDEAS, but I've also got like...lemme check, TEN other things I need to work on. All fanfictions. GLOB.))


	3. Deal 3

The sex did them both good. They were each relaxed and generally nicer people, or as nice as two of the most feared people in Tokyo can be. Shizuo didn't have nearly as many tantrums or fights, which meant that property damage was a lot lower. Izaya wasn't a heartless prick with some of his clients and he didn't go around encouraging people to jump off buildings any more either. They were much more occupied.

People asked questions and had their own theories. Shinra thought that they each had found a release for their pent up aggressions, a hobby. Celty thought that they had been replaced by aliens. Tom thought that Shizuo had found a girlfriend since he was running off every day with no explanation. Masaomi thought that Izaya had found a new online video game. Erika and Walker thought that they were gay for each other.

Every time they were horny, and that was every day, they called or sent a text to the other telling them so. The other would get there quickly and have sex. They never said no or made excuses, they just went. They did that for weeks until they started to actually talk and hang out together before and after sex. Their friends and colleagues were confused about their constant disappearances, but didn't mention it to them.

One day, Izaya needed him. He was horny and couldn't help it, so he decided to send a quick text to Shizuo, expecting him to come. He scrolled down his contacts to "Monster" and clicked the messaging option. He wrote, _Come here. I neeeeeed you Shizu-chan!_ Izaya was shocked with the response.

_Not now._

He growled, getting angry about being ignored. He didn't even give a reason! So the small man hit speed dial and called him. It rang a few times before it picked up, "What?" Shizuo said.

"Why can't you?" Izaya asked shortly, biting back the growl.

"I'm on a job." Shizuo replied, "And Tom's starting to get curious."

"And you think I care?"

"No, but I do. I don't want what's going on to get around. So I'm not coming."

"You're going to regret this," Izaya growled, a scowl contorting his features.

"Goodbye."

"Fuck you!" Izaya exclaimed right before he was cut off.

Ideas were quickly formulated in his mind, ideas to get back at the monster. He took care of business by himself, something he hadn't done in a while. He cursed himself for moaning Shizuo's name in his climax when he was so mad at him. Izaya cleaned up and picked up a phone, making some calls.

* * *

Hours later, Shizuo was hanging out in the park with Celty, sitting next to her motorcycle. They were talking idly about Shinra's latest strangeness. A strange noise filled the air, a noise they knew well. Police motorcycles. The said vehicles burst into the park and circled around the two of them until they were surrounded completely. A smoky exclamation point appeared over Celty's head and she looked very scared.

Celty typed quickly, showing off her message to her friend. _Let's go!_

"You go, I'll only slow you down." Shizuo said. Celty took off, jumping over the police with her bike. No one pursued her though. They simply stared at Shizuo, guns leveled at him.

"What's this for?" Shizuo asked the police angrily.

"Plotting to kill the Chief of Police, scum!" A policeman called back.

"You have got to be kidding me," Shizuo muttered and cursed under his breath. The police were getting closer though, so he knew they weren't.

Shizuo came quietly back to the station and was locked in a holding cell. A few minutes after getting there, a man came and stood in front of his cell. He had short black hair that was cut close to his head and serious looking brown eyes. He was dressed in a police uniform that fit the man perfectly.

"Now, we know you weren't plotting anything."

"Can I go then?" Shizuo asked, quite annoyed.

"No, we owed someone a favor, and this is what they asked for. You'll have to pay bail."

"How much?" Shizuo asked.

After the man stated the amount, he knew he couldn't pay. It was way too much for him, or almost anyone else he knew, to pay. Almost. There was only one person who had that much on hand. He'd have to call Izaya and beg forgiveness. Shizuo groaned. He had been played by the smaller man yet again!

Shizuo groaned, not wanting to go through an apology. He had to though, so he called down the hall to the guard and asked for his one phone call. The man unlocked his cell for him and led him to the phone. Shizuo quickly dialed the number and waited for the pick up. It rang six times before the pick up.

"Sorry, can you call back later?" Izaya asked sweetly through the phone.

"Dammit flea..."

"What? I'm busy too." Izaya said, scowling on his end. He had an Italian mafia boss in the chair across his desk. He was holding up his finger to silence the man. The boss and his body guards grew angry as Izaya spoke into the phone, ignoring them.

"Come pick me up."

"Why should I? Maybe I'd like to see you rot in a holding cell. Why do you think I made them make bail so high?" One of the body guards raised a gun and pointed it at Izaya, hoping to gain his attention through fear. He didn't even glance over.

"You fucking-! Dammit." Shizuo growled into the phone, knowing that Izaya would probably abandon him.

"Tsk tsk tsk. Language, Shizu-chan." Izaya laughed. The mafia members paled as they heard the informer's enemy's name. Shizuo was feared everywhere. The gun was lowered.

"Please? I'm sorry." Shizuo said through gritted teeth.

"What would I get out of paying your bail?"

"I'll do anything you want for a week. I'll take off work and do anything." Shizuo answered, cursing himself for even offering that.

"Deal. I'll be over to the station in an hour or so. Bye-bye, Shizu-chan~" He hung up and laughed, turning back to his clients. "Oh right, here's the info on your leaks." Izaya handed the boss a folder with a few pictures and names in them. "Now, out! I have places to go!"

* * *

An hour later, Izaya strolled to the cell that Shizuo was sitting in. He had been let into the station easily and had already payed the bail. The barred door was creaking open outwardly as the blonde man stood up. His hands were balled in fists as he approached Izaya.

"Now now, Shizu-chan. I could easily get you locked up again. The police owe me many favors."

Instead of stopping, or beating the shit out of him, Shizuo opened his fists and grabbed the flea by his shirt. He pulled him close and planted a kiss on his lips, a deep, passionate kiss. They stayed in that lip lock for several minutes before breaking it, and once broken, Izaya laughed.

"They monitor the cells, you know. So a few guards just saw that."

"I'm pretty sure they won't tell if they don't want to end up in the hospital."

"Now back to my apartment! I'm not going to let you leave for a week." Izaya said, an evil, sultry grin on his face.


	4. Deal 4

"The info at the docks, by Friday, or we're going to come to you. You know what will happen then." The voice from the phone said. It was disguised, obviously, by the plain, deep, uniformity of it. After stating that, it hung up, leaving Izaya to ponder how he was going to handle this.

He had only agreed to do this job as something to pass the time, he figured it was nothing important. Over the time investigating though, his client, an up-and-coming group of young yakuza had made a name for themselves. A very, very bloody name. They killed anyone who crossed them in a number of extremely painful ways, leaving the bodies around the city like a bizarre scavenger hunt for the police.

Izaya was hired to find out the leaks in the group, the location of their enemies hide-out, whether or not the leader's girlfriend was cheating on him, and information on some police investigators that were sticking their noses in a bit too much. Izaya had done all that, but a week before he had taken the job he had worked for the yakuza's enemy, an Italian mafia that needed to find the leaks in it's system. The leaks of course were double agents working for the yakuza. So, after Izaya had taken the job and gotten invested, the yakuza found out that it was him that had gotten several yakuza members killed, and weren't happy.

He had four days to come forward, facing death, or they were coming after him. Izaya knew very well that no body-guard, or police force, could stand up to the full force of the young group, all but one that is. And that body-guard just happened to be Shizuo. Shizuo was the only one who could help him, and he knew pretty well that it wasn't going to be easy to ask. He was in deep shit.

Izaya bit his lip and rapped his knuckles on his expensive desk nervously, trying to work up the nerve to call. After a few minutes, he picked up his office phone again and dialed the familiar number. It rang several times before it picked up and a gruff voice spoke into his ear, "Hello?"

"You alone?"

"On the job," Shizuo said.

"Get alone."

"Why?" He growled.

"Because I need to ask you something and I don't want anyone to hear your responses, just in case. Just get alone, okay?!" The small man said impatiently, a twinge of fear crept into his voice.

"Fine." He heard Shizuo murmur something to Tom as he walked somewhere more private. "What?"

"I need your help. In a completely non-sexual way."

"What could you possibly need that's this important?" Shizuo asked angrily.

"I'm going to die Friday if I don't have protection while going to drop off some information for a client."

"What?" The blonde man asked, completely confused.

"I did a bit of bad business with a rising group of young yakuza. They want to kill me for getting some of them killed by the mafia. It's a bit complicated, but bottom line is that I need a body-guard."

"No." Shizuo said. If they appeared together, completely not malicious like usual, people would start asking questions. They would eventually put two and two together, and they would be outed. Not good. For some reason, the very thought of people knowing about their relationship was terrible to Shizuo.

"Oh come on, Shizu-chan! I need you!"

"You can find some other body-guard, damn flea!"

"No, I really can't!" Izaya cried into the phone, his hands were shaking ever so slightly, not that he'd ever admit it.

"Simon! You can get Simon to do it."

"He hates me! Don't forget, he hates my games!"

"Whatever. I'm not doing it. Find someone else," Shizuo said coldly and hung up.

Izaya set the phone back in its cradle on the desk and sighed. He picked up the manilla envelope with the info inside and walked out of his office. The small man shrugged his jacket on and turned to Namie who was just walking out of the elevator. "I'm not going to be in this week, okay? There's no need to come in. Think of it as a vacation."

He passed the woman and stepped into the elevator before she could say anything, pressing the "Close Door" button hard. As soon as the doors shut and he felt the dipping sensation in his stomach, Izaya kicked the metal wall of the compartment. "Damn him! He's such a-a-! Damn...Shizu-chan really doesn't care..." He sniffed and wiped a few stray tears from his eyes. He put his hood up on his coat right before the doors on the elevator opened just so he could hide his red cheeks and eyes.

Izaya went home and stayed there until Friday morning. He was scared shitless, he hadn't eaten very much ever since he came home. Sleeping was the same way, nightmares woke him regularly. Although he was usually tough in any situation, besides any time that Shizuo was in bed with him, he really and truly didn't want to die. He liked his games, his job, the funny, interesting little people who lived in Ikebukuro, and...he really liked Shizuo. There was no denying that fact.

He wrapped himself in his large, fluffy comforter, putting it over his head like a hood and clutching it around his neck with one hand as he shuffled to his cell phone which sat on his kitchen counter. He clicked speed dial 1, Shizuo's number, and held it to his ear as he sat on the floor, curled into a ball, against the cabinets in his kitchen. It rang once, then Shizuo ignored it. Izaya called again and again until finally Shizuo picked up on the eighth call.

"What do you want?!"

"Come here," Izaya whispered into the phone.

"No way! I'm working!"

"Come here," he said again.

A sigh, then, "Where?"

"My apartment."

"Fine," was the simple response. It was laced with anger.

An hour later, Shizuo opened and walked through the unlocked door. He walked throughout the apartment, searching for the other man and found him in the kitchen. Izaya was shaking hard and his cheeks were red. The blanket wrapped around him made him look weak and small.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"I don't want to die yet." Izaya said in a quiet voice, "But it's going to happen. I just know it. So I wanted you to get down my last words, okay?"

Shizuo sighed and picked up the trembling man. He carried him to the couch where he sat down with the small man cradled in his arms. "Okay, what are they then?"

"I...damn...this is beyond embarrassing. I can't tell anyone else though because it'll ruin my image. I love you. There. I said it, and it's absolutely true. I don't want to die, because I want to stay here, with you. I'd make any deal. I really would." He choked on his words, little tears running down his cheeks

"You...love me?" Shizuo asked, completely blindsided.

"Yes! I do! I don't want any teasing. It's not like I chose to," Izaya mumbled.

After being silent for a long time, Shizuo spoke up. "I'll make you a deal. I'll be your body-guard if you agree to my deal, flea. I'm not gonna tell you what the deal is until after you're done your business, but you have to swear that you'll do it."

"Okay. I swear I'll do it. No matter what." His heart squeezed. Izaya was positive the deal was going to be something along the lines of never ever seeing him again. He stood and walked to his room and shut the door. Emerging a few minutes later, he was dressed, clean, and didn't look at all like the crying, weak man that had been in the apartment a few minutes prior. Izaya looked comfortable and cool, almost bored. He was in his element.

"Let's go then," Izaya said, the folder in his hand.

Shizuo followed the smaller man out of the apartment and into a waiting cab that Izaya apparently called from the bedroom. The driver had a double-take when he saw the famed Izaya the Information Dealer and Shizuo (no title there) acting somewhat civil towards each other. That was surprising. In fact he gawked at them through the mirror at every stop light, expecting them to rip apart his cab at any moment. They didn't even look at each other, just stared out the window in boredom.

When the driver let them out at the docks and Izaya handed him a wad of cash. The man quickly drove away, scared that the two of them would start fighting and his car would become a part of it. Izaya led the way to the designated warehouse and let Shizuo look around a bit before returning to his side. The yakuza entered a few minutes later and sat down on some crates, directing Izaya to one. A few of the armed guards looked warily at Shizuo who, by the way, was looking pretty annoyed.

Izaya crossed his legs and waited patiently for the boss to begin. The boss was dressed in an obviously expensive black suit with a silk black tie. His dark eyes were focused on Shizuo, scowling at him and was obviously very pissed that he was here. "Mr. Orihara, I didn't expect for you to bring Mr. Heiwajima. Why on Earth would he decide to work for you? As I understand it, you two aren't on good terms."

"Discussing my body guard isn't the reason why I'm here," Izaya said calmly.

"I'm just making small talk. Mr. Heiwajima, will you answer me?"

"Eh?" Shizuo looked back to the boss, taking his cigarette out of his mouth. "Fuck off. I'm not here to talk to you."

The boss sighed, running a hand through his black long black hair, "Oh whatever. Let's get down to business then." Izaya handed the folder over and watched as the other man looked through it. "This looks good."

"And the money?"

The man's eyes flicked to Shizuo and looked at him hard, "If we tried to shoot him, would you stop us?"

"Yeah," Shizuo said and puffed on his cigarette.

The man sighed and grabbed a briefcase from one of his underlings and handed it to Izaya. The small man opened it and verified that it was all there, then smiled at the yakuza. "Thank you very much. We'll be going now."

The yakuza boss growled, "If your body guard was anyone else..."

"I know, I know. That's why he isn't anyone else," Izaya said, carrying the case to the door, then waving at the group of disgruntled men. When he turned away to walk out, he heard the tell tale click of the safety getting taken off of a gun. He also heard a loud grunt and the sound of several men falling to the concrete floor. A few moments later, Shizuo joined him in walking back to the street.

When they reached the street, Izaya looked up at the larger man with a strange look on his face. He looked really tired, strained, and also really ecstatic. His hand trembled as he reached out and grabbed Shizuo's shirt and gripped it tightly. The blonde suddenly pulled his flea close and picked him up. "Dammit, louse, you haven't eaten, have you?" Izaya buried his face into Shizuo's chest and shook his head. "I'm taking you to Simon's then," Shizuo muttered.

The monstrosity of a man carried Izaya through Ikebukuro with hundreds of people staring at them, all the way to the sushi restaurant. They passed a fan-girl/boy-ing Erika and Walker, a gaping Masaomi and Mikado, and a happily confused Celty and Shinra. When they reached the sushi restaurant, Shizuo ordered for him and let the smaller man rest against him as he sat in his lap. It was actually pretty cute.

When Simon came back with their food, he smiled and nodded to them, then walked away to leave them in peace. For the first couple bites, Shizuo had to help him eat, but Izaya was soon wolfing down the food on his own. After a while, Izaya leaned against the wall and sighed with a content look on his face, then looked worriedly at the other man.

"What do you get out of the deal?"

"What?" Shizuo looked up from his food.

"What do you get out of it? What do I have to do?"

The taller man set down his chopsticks and pulled the other closer, craning his neck to look down at him. "Simple, you've just got to go out with me. I love you too, you know."

Izaya's face broke out into a grin as he leaned up to kiss him, not giving a shit that they were in a very public place. So, after a few minutes, Izaya was straddling his lap and had his arms wrapped around the larger man's neck, and Shizuo had his arms wrapped around the smaller's waist. They were very much making out, and people stared. Oh did they stare. But that was okay as far as they were concerned because they were together and that was part of their deal.

* * *

((I'm not sure if I want to continue this or not. It seems like it could end well here, and I'm not sure what I could put after this, but for some reason I feel like it could continue too. Review with your opinion and any kind of prompt I could use, I just need some inspiration at this point. I've got some other things I've got to finish though, so it might be a while before I actually get another chapter up if I decide to do that. Anyway, go to my profile and check out some of my older fics please!))


	5. Deal 5

((I thought that it would be a while before I started writing this chapter, much less updated it. But now look, I'm done a chapter. It's because __'s review. It got me thinking! That, and, well, a marathon of watching DRRR AMV's on YouTube...eh heh heh...Anyway, give her a big thanks! This may not be exactly what she was getting at, and is probably OOC, but I like it. Now, onto the story:))

* * *

_Taro Tanaka/: is now logged on.

_Setton/: is now logged on.

_Kanra/: is now logged on.

_Bakyura/: is now logged on.

_Taro Tanaka/: Hey guys!

_Bakyura/: Sup bro! XD

_Setton/: Hey Taro!

_Kanra/: Hello~

_Bakyura/: Oh oh! Have you gaiz heard? Did you see it?!

_Setton/: What?

_Taro Tanaka/: Spit it out Bakyura!

_Bakyura/: About Shizuo and Izaya! DUH! Theyre totes together!

_Setton/: I just thought that Shizuo finally beat him! They're together?!

_Taro Tanaka/: Woah! I thought that Shizuo was just carrying a girl who looked sorta similar! I didn't know that they were together!

_Bakyura/: So did i bro! But i saw this vid online of them making out in Russia Sushi! it blew me away!

_Taro Tanaka/: Howd you even get to see the vid?

_Bakyura/: It's all over! someone posted it on the homepage a couple mins ago! check it out if u dont believe me

_Setton/: Oh my...

_Taro Tanaka/: I can't believe it...

_Bakyura/: hey Kanra! You've been quiet!

_Kanra/: I'm a bit busy. This convo isnt that interesting anyway.

_Taro Tanaka/: But its Shizuo and Izaya! They hated each other!

_Setton/: Who knew it would happen?

_Bakyura/: Ooooh did you know it was gonna happen Kanra? I bet you did! Dirty~

_Kanra/: I DID NOT!

_Taro Tanaka/: Do you know anything about them Kanra?

_Bakyura/: C'mon Kanra! You know a lot!

_Setton/: Please?

_Kanra/: has logged off.

Izaya fumed as he sat at his desk in his office. He couldn't believe he wasn't able to stop that damned video from going public. It was annoying how many people had harassed him about it. What was worse was the fact that he didn't know how to handle Shizu-chan anymore. Especially in public.

When they had gone home yesterday, after everything that went down, he kissed Izaya's head and suggested he rest, then simply left. Izaya felt lonely, but the large man was right, he needed the sleep. When he woke up, it was today and Izaya had went about his business, taking calls and discovering secrets as he usually did. Finally, he had opened my browser to the Dollars website and entered the usual chat room, which played out to be annoying.

They had reinforced his uneasiness about the relationship somehow. It made him want to sit in bed, watch old romance movies, and sip a milkshake. But that was girly and not what he really needed. Izaya needed help figuring things out, but of course it wasn't going to happen since he didn't really have many friends. Sitting on the couch, his laptop next to him, his body itched to find out what people thought about his new relationship with the monster.

The next thing he knew, he was on the Dollars homepage, pulling up the video. He watched it, listening to the commentary that a small group of girls were whispering in the background. Squeals and excited giggles could be heard every few minutes over the soft-spoken awe of a girl with a squeaky voice. It showed a shaky, bad quality picture of them, kissing needily and leaning against the wall of the sushi shop. There was no contest that it was the two of them, despite the bad footage, because at one point they broke the kiss and opened their eyes, showing the camera their faces without knowledge of it.

After finishing the video, he scrolled through the comments. There was the usual homophobic hate, but there was some fan-girl/boy-ing too. Some were confused, some loved the idea of them together, some wanted more, some wished it would go away, some didn't care and didn't know why it was so popular. There were hundreds of comments, some people had posted more than once, but the amount of people who had watched the video was probably somewhere in the thousands, considering it was the internet.

After calming down his hyper-ventilation, Izaya set his computer on the coffee table and went to his kitchen. He calmly got the carton of ice cream from his freezer and a spoon from the silver-ware drawer. He then removed the top to the carton and stabbed the nearly full container with the spoon, carrying it back to his bedroom. He turned his TV and DVD player on and inserted the disk. Izaya changed his clothes into a shirt that Shizuo had left over at his house one night when he had stayed over, nothing else, and picked up the carton again. The small man sat in his bed with his back to the headboard, wrapped completely in his dark comforter.

So, Izaya did something he hadn't ever thought he'd do. He watched The Notebook while spooning chocolate ice cream into his mouth. He cried and felt all fuzzy inside and eventually finished the ice cream while the movie played on repeat. Izaya fell asleep, curled up in bed. He had cried himself to sleep, embarrassed by the attention and completely confused about the situation. This was something he hadn't ever faced and hadn't even thought about their relationship becoming a reality. Waking up, he felt undeniably sick from the ice cream,

He pulled up the Dollars website on his smart phone and was shocked to see another video link with a caption underneath. _**"Shizuo and Izaya! mooooaaaarrrrr!"**_ Well, he thought, this probably wasn't good. He tapped it and the video sprang to life as he turned his phone sideways. It was a picture of an empty cell. That made his stomach sink.

A few moments later, in black and white and on high-speed, a guard walked Shizuo into the cell in handcuffs, then took them off of him. The guard said a few words to him, then walked out and locked the cell. The tall man paced for a moment, then called down the hall. He was taken out of his cell, then led back a minute later. The next part was triple the speed of before, passing an hour, until it slowed for Izaya's arrival.

It showed the smaller man walk into the cell with a smirk on his face. Shizuo looked angry, with a hint of wanting that Izaya hadn't seen when he was in the cell. An extremely short exchange of words led them to making out in the center of the cell. They stopped, looked at the camera and smiled slightly as they exchanged a few more words. He could read his own lips as he spoke, "Now back to my apartment! I'm not going to let you leave for a week." They left together a moment after, Shizuo was quite plainly staring at Izaya's ass as he left the room.

After that, the screen cut to black and a few slides of words came up. They were in an electric blue color with a Comic Sans MS font. It said, "MY BROTHER WORKED AS A GUARD AT THE POLICE STATION. SHIZUO WAS ARRESTED FOR SOME FAKE CHARGE THAT IZAYA HAD BRIBED SOME HIGHER UPS TO CHARGE. SHIZUO CALLED HIM AND APOLOGIZED FOR SOMETHING, AND AN HOUR LATER IZAYA SHOWED UP TO COLLECT HIM! THEN THAT HAPPENED! WTF?! THAT'S SO WEIRD!"

Izaya quickly shut his phone off and burrowed under the covers, letting his body shake. More things would start coming out about them. Probably some testimonies about them acting weird, leaving work early, acting strange, taking phone calls and answering texts without saying who they were talking to. Izaya would feel buried by other people's opinions and would feel unbelievably paranoid about who was watching them. He wouldn't be able to feel comfortable anywhere.

Izaya covered his head with a pillow and sighed, not knowing what to do. His head, stomach, and heart hurt. The sound of a key in a lock and an opening door made his senses perk up. The only other person with a key to his apartment was Shizuo. Shizuo strode through the apartment, Izaya could hear him, as he searched for the small man. Walking into Izaya's bedroom, he looked it all over. The taller man turned off the television and cleaned up around him briefly, then kicked off his shoes and crawled into the bed next to Izaya. The small man clung to him, sitting in his lap and wrapping his arms around him.

"What's wrong, flea?" Shizuo asked. He could tell that the other was having some serious issues.

"Everyone knows. EVERYONE. How the hell should I act? They all know about us? What if I start losing business? What if people aren't afraid anymore? That won't work! I need them to..." He trailed off, shivering in Shizuo's arms.

A soft kiss was pressed to the flea's raven hair, "Shhh...it'll be fine. In a bit, everything will settle down. For now, people are going to be nosy little assholes though."

"But I don't want them to be. I'm the one with that job," Izaya sniffed, wiping away forming tears.

Shizuo chuckled, "And you're damn good at it. But you know how people are better than everyone. They aren't going to let this go."

"And why not? Why do people think this is so strange? You'd think that more people would notice hints of it sooner!"

"Walker and Erika noticed. Damn, they interrogated me when they saw the hickeys you gave me."

A small smile appeared on Izaya's face, "They did that to me too."

"If anyone tries to get details from you in person, threaten them. They'll back off. If anyone comes onto you, kill them," a flash of irritation shot onto his face when he mentioned someone coming onto him.

"You jealous, Shizu-chan? How would you feel if someone hit on me in front of you?" Izaya got in his face, really wanting a reaction.

"I would hate it. Because you are mine." A deep flush of red flooded Izaya's face, going all the way to his ears. "Oi," Shizuo said, bringing him back to reality. "You're still paranoid, aren't you?"

Izaya frowned, "I can't help it!

"Just focus on me. You've done that for a while, even when we weren't...close. I'll think of you, and we won't worry about what anyone else thinks."

"It's not that easy! I can't help but think of...nn...it's just so..." He looked so distraught, unable to explain his emotions to the one who was trying to help.

"How about I make a deal with you?"

Izaya perked up at the words, "What kind of deal?"

"If you focus on us instead of the people who don't matter, I'll take you to the festival."

A slow grin spread across his face. Izaya had been wanting to go to a Cherry Blossom Festival that was being held in a small town outside of Tokyo. Many people from Tokyo went, making the town's festival grow more and more famous as years passed, making it grow bigger and better. He had gone when he was young, very young, with Shinra, Celty, and Shizuo, a group that wasn't very happy to be around back then, and he had a lot of fun. Izaya couldn't imagine how much fun it would be this year.

So, Izaya had tried to make a deal with him for the past couple weeks, even before their relationship, for Shizuo to take him. He thought it would be amazing. Now, Shizuo was offering him what he wanted on a silver platter. "I'll do it," he said, grinning.

His smile was supressed by a pair of lips leaning into his own. Izaya was delighted and had a new-found confidence in them. He didn't care what anyone thought now. Shizuo knew him, knew what would make him happy, and he tried to make every bit of him ecstatic. In more ways than one, at the moment, since the other man's hands were sliding lower, caressing a few parts that enjoyed the touches.

* * *

((Soooo...? What'd ya think? Next chapter is a festival! I'm thinking of adding some sort of conflict in...but I'm not sure what kind I should do. Suggestions? Review please! I live off of reviews!))


	6. Deal 6

Shizuo stood outside of Izaya's apartment boredly. It was six o'clock in the evening on a clear Saturday night. Festival night. Shizuo's wallet was fuller than usual. He had asked Tom for an advance on his pay because Izaya had oh so bluntly told him that since Shizuo was taking _him_ to the festival, the blonde was going to have to pay for it. It was a date after all, and Shizuo hated having the flea throw his abundance of money around.

He knocked on the door once again, the third time he had done it this evening. Apparently he was waiting for the flea to dress. Shizuo was dressed differently today. His usual bartender's outfit was discarded for a dark blue dress shirt and black dress pants. When the door opened, Izaya stood wearing a red t-shirt and a pair of black pants. His hair was a bit shinier than usual, and a very faint smell of strawberry shampoo emanated from him. A bit of...lip gloss was applied conservatively. His usually long eyelashes batted without really meaning to. It looked effortlessly sexy in Shizuo's opinion.

The flea grabbed him by the neck and yanked him down into a short, but passionate kiss. "That's for being somewhat patient," Izaya said with a smirk. His face brightened into a cute, child-like smile. "Let's go, Shizu-chan!"

They headed downstairs and hailed a cab, hopping in when one pulled up. Izaya snuggled under Shizuo's propped-up arm and smiled. He liked the ability to be public with his affection now, he had grown used to it since his melt down. The cab driver glanced back at them nervously through the mirror as Shizuo gave directions, as if the two of them were going to burst into a fight at any moment.

The odd couple was let out a block from the destination, there were too many arriving cars to get any closer. Shizuo paid and followed the shorter man out of the cab, up the steps to the shrine, and into the bustling festival. It was an exciting atmosphere, one that made the kid in a person come out. Especially in Izaya. His face lit up as he looked around, tightening his grip on Shizuo's hand as he led him through the crowd.

Children ran around giggling, high on life and too much candy. Masks, cat and bunny ears, disguise glasses, face paint, and more obscured people's views. Yukatas in various colors and patterns; cherries, flowers, spirals, skulls, sparkles, stripes, dots, all in as many colors as you could think of. Vendors cried out to advertise their stalls and games. There was chatter about fireworks later and a coincidental meteor shower that was supposed to happen.

Izaya demanded cotton candy, and I mean demanded. Shizuo bought it, of course he did. After his little lover was pleased with the candy, he wanted a mask. So they went to a mask stand and the tall man waited while Izaya debated and tried on masks. He finally settled on a red, black, and white villain's mask with little demon horns that pointed off at the top, red and black lining the eyes with a series of stripes that slashed down the cheeks. He put it on, to the side so his face was visible. A grin was plastered to his face, and it looked too damn cute.

As they were walking, someone called out to them. "Shizuo! Izaya! Hey!" They turned to see Shinra and Celty walk up. Shinra wore his normal clothes, but without his doctor's coat for once. Celty on the other hand wore a pitch black yukata with what looked like shining stars dotting in it. Her helmet was different too, it was white with sleek cat ears, and a black visor.

Celty typed quickly into her phone. _Hey! What's up?_

"I didn't think you'd convince him to take you, Izaya. I lost ten bucks on that." The doctor pouted a little, but it was lighthearted.

"Oh really? Who'd you bet?" Izaya asked.

"Celty," he said simply.

A smirk appeared on Shizuo's lips, "How'd you know I'd be convinced?"

_Izaya has you whipped. :)_ Celty typed. Shinra laughed, Shizuo flustered, and Izaya looked pleased.

"So you got a new helmet?" Shizuo asked, desperately wanting a subject change.

"Erika made it. She said it brought out a bit more moe. Something about making a tsundere look cute..." Shinra said, looking downright confused along with Shizuo as he said it. Izaya giggled, he and Celty seemed to understand.

"Anyway, we better go. Celty wants a prime spot for watching the fireworks. See you later!" Shinra smiled and waved, taking his fiancée's hand as they walked away.

As the first pair left, another dashed up. Erika and Walker were going into total fangasms by seeing them there. Erika snapped pictures on her disposable camera as Walker talked quickly, comparing them to fictional couples.

"Ooooh! I just knew it! You two are perfect together, and I knew it! I knew ever since the fight at the couple contest!" Erika squealed and giggled.

"Tch," Shizuo muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, yes, you knew. Before ANYONE. Now, Erika, are you and Walker together?" Izaya asked, his greedy little informer paws getting twitchy.

They two looked at each other and smiled, "Well now, Iza-chaaaan~ Wouldn't that hurt the purpose of you being an informant? Figure it out." They laughed and ran away into the crowd.

Izaya huffed and took Shizuo's hand, which was much larger than his own. They glided through the festival grounds, stopping to play the shooting game, a rope pull, and finally a goldfish scoop game. Shizuo's scoop kept breaking, making him frustrated. Izaya on the other hand was nimble with it, scooping a fish on the first time. Shizuo looked at the strange colored fish. It was completely white with a thick band of black that went around it's belly, stopping halfway up each side.

"What should I name it?" Izaya asked, looking up at the taller man through the bag of water he held. The fish swam in small circles around the bag, rocking with each step they took.

After a brief pause, Shizuo replied, "Onigiri."

Izaya laughed, "Perfect! Onigiri it is then."

They walked around the grounds for a while, the fireworks were in a half hour, and they needed to find a perfect spot for watching. The dark haired man found them a good, deserted look out point. After that, he shoved the fish into Shizuo's hand and pecked his cheek, "I'm gonna go get us some snow cones. Money?" Shizuo handed over enough money and watched his date skip away happily.

Ten minutes later, Izaya walked back to the place to see Shizuo leaning against the rail. He wasn't alone though. There was a tall short-haired red-head with a pair of brown eyes leaning on his arm. Shizuo looked uncomfortable and unhappy with her closeness, but Izaya knew he rarely hit girls. It just wasn't in him. The girl squished her excess of cleavage against his arm and cooed at him in an American accent. Izaya dropped the snow cones in shock and anger.

"OH, you're so handsome and so strong! You're muscles are so toned!" She squeezed his arm, eyeing him with a sultry look. Her thigh-length yukata was bright pink with a pastel blue flower print, a pair of strappy heels were on her feet.

"Christy, come ON. Let's just go, we can find a better spot," said her friend. Her friend had long blonde hair and hazel eyes that hid behind a pair of glasses. She was the smart one in Izaya's opinion since she seemed against flirting with Shizuo.

"Shut up Kate. This is a good a spot as any, and it had a _**great**_ person to watch the fireworks with." The stupid girl's eyes sparkled as she looked at Shizuo meaningfully.

And he just grunted and looked away.

Izaya hissed and walked forward, "Get away from him."

Christy turned and arched an eyebrow at him. She may have been two inches taller, and even more since she was wearing the heels, but she still felt nervous under the flea's glare. "Why should I?"

"We can just find another place, Christy, please?" Kate said pleadingly. She wanted to avoid conflict, but the bustier girl craved it.

"Because you are flirting with _my_ boyfriend," Izaya said, pure malice dripping from his voice.

"Oh really? Well what're you going to do to stop me?" The girl seemed pretty confident, but only because Izaya was smaller.

The dark-haired man took out his knife and flicked it open slowly so the girl could see it properly. Christy had no response, she didn't back down at all. Kate on the other hand was trembling now. Izaya launched himself at the flirt and cut at her clothes and hair. A few minor cuts sliced at her skin, causing her to scream. Mostly though she was just scratched, slapped, and punched by the feisty man. He had no need for his usual evasive grace that he used on Shizuo. This was strictly cat fight.

After a few minutes of this, Izaya was being pulled off by three police officers as he screeched curses at the girl. Christy was sobbing and hurt, and Kate crouched next to her looking not at all sorry for her. Kate was a smart girl who knew when to stop. Izaya respected that, but he also thought that she had bad taste in friends. The police officers put him in handcuffs and sat him down as they explained the situation to a mildly amused Shizuo.

"Yeah, okay," Shizuo nodded at the police men before turning to crouch in front of the pouting Izaya. "I'm gonna meet you at the police station, okay? I'll get you bailed out."

Izaya nodded pitifully, "Take care of Onigiri and get me some more cotton candy before you come, okay?" He glanced over at Christy, who was curled up in a ball, sobbing. "And don't you dare let anyone flirt with you." Shizuo nodded at him as the cops hauled the small man away into a cop car.

After doing what the flea asked, he called a cab and took it to the police department. He paid bail and waited for Izaya to come out and meet him. A few minutes later, Izaya left the building with a decidedly grumpy expression. He strolled up to Shizuo and launched himself into him, hugging the beast tightly and nuzzling his neck.

"You feel bad at all?" Shizuo asked, holding the smaller man around his slim waist.

"No. It was worth it. You better not make me jealous again, because it's only gonna get worse from here," he said into his neck, tickling the larger man slightly with his breath.

"Fine."

"Promise?" Izaya asked, pulling away to look at Shizuo's face.

"I don't really get it, but deal. I'll make sure to avoid making you jealous if it keeps you out of jail."

"Good," Izaya said, a smile spreading across his face. "Now let's go home."

((Here's something unexpected that happened: as I was 1/4 of the way through writing this, I got a huge idea for the next chapter. I can't remember what inspired me, but holy crap as soon as I thought of it I was like "OMG I WANT TO WRITE IT NOW!" So much so that I considered skipping this one to work on it. That simply wouldn't do though, because I'd mentioned the festival...Anyway, I'm super happy that I wrote this quickly enough.

My problem now: I went to this thing yesterday called FEST, I forget what the acronym is for, but basically it's a yearly get together that holds classes and social events for Drama Clubs in my area. Now, because I took the (awesome) classes "Armed Combat" and "Unarmed Combat" I fell and got fake-beaten up by some of my friends. That means I had to take a series of bad falls and some not-so-fake punches and prop sword strikes to get it right in the end. My body feels like crap, and it's really uncomfortable to type right now. I just thought I'd let you know.))


	7. Deal 7

They were standing in Izaya's office, facing off once again. It had been six months since they had stopped that, so it was pretty alien to them to be picking up the arguing again. The argument had started unexpectedly by a comment that hadn't had nearly as much weight behind it. Shizuo had mentioned, as they were walking back to his office from a date, that Izaya's job was dangerous. It didn't really mean anything, not **really**.

But that had sparked a response. Then a conversation. Then a debate. Then an argument. Then the slow breaking down of any feelings they had for one another, making it World War III in the middle of Shinjuku. So, sadly, this wasn't anything they could come back from easily.

Shizuo growled and gritted his teeth, staring down the man he loved, even though he knew this wasn't really anything that needed to be argued about. He wanted him to quit his job, as he had discovered in the midst of the argument. Taking it back now wasn't an option, he was too proud for that and Izaya wasn't going to allow it, he knew that.

"It's too dangerous," the blonde pointed out, his voice low.

"Less dangerous than yours. Most of the time, I just hang out in my office and get tips called in, but you go around collecting money from crazy people!"

"You were being threatened by the yakuza! And, as you so often point out, I'm a monster, so it doesn't matter," Shizuo replied.

"I am **not** quitting, and that's final. For god's sake, **you** are more dangerous than my job, and more nagging too."

"Maybe I should leave then," Shizuo said, a slight threatening undertone in his voice.

The smaller man, who was exceptionally tired of the fighting, snapped. "Maybe you should, if you're going to be like this. I don't want or need a bitchy monster around!"

"Just don't expect me to come back," he said, turning toward the door, giving his flea one last chance to at least end the argument. Not to quit being an informer, but to admit that this was just a stupid fight.

"I won't. In fact, I don't want you to. I never want to see you again," Izaya yelled. He regretted the words as soon as he said them, just like everything else he had said during the fight. He turned his back to him and walked behind his desk, falling back into the chair so that it scooted an inch or two back and twirled.

"That makes two of us," Shizuo said calmly, walking out. There was no stomping, or door slamming, or yelling, or anything else that the monster usually did. No, it was quiet. The fury behind it was so obvious that it crippled Izaya. As soon as the door shut silently behind his now ex-boyfriend, he started crying. And Izaya didn't cry easily.

He loved Shizuo, but he also loved his job. He loved the games he created and really everything about his life before the larger man had become more than just a play thing to him. Everything but the loneliness that he would never admit to anyone.

Shizuo had changed that, he had burst into his life in a way that he thought was rather funny now. By picking him up and dragging him back to his apartment, and giving him the most startling proposition he'd ever gotten. And it was the best night he'd had before then, and it had only gotten better since then.

His job and Shizuo were both extremely important to his life now, and he couldn't give up either without ripping a gaping hole in his life. If he did that, he would surely spiral into a depression that he wouldn't come out of quickly.

Izaya wiped the tears from his eyes and sat back in his chair, taking a series of deep breaths to calm himself. His face was still red, his eyes even redder. His finger twirled his short black hair as he thought. The only rational thing was to wait, right? He was too proud to apologize, so he was going to wait for Shizuo to do it. That, or for some interesting piece of information that could lead him into a good distraction from his woes.

* * *

Shizuo was pissed. Completely and absolutely. He didn't really want the flea to quit his job, he was just worried about him. Maybe the flea should try not to mess with people that he was sure he couldn't out run, out maneuver, or out fight. The blonde just cared too much about his little flea, and didn't want to get a call from the ICU one night and learn that Izaya had been shot eighteen times. Not like it was all that probable, but there was still a chance.

He was walking a quiet back street, with no one in sight and only the sound of a far away dog barking. He heard the sounds of running foot steps, but he ignored it, even though it was obvious that the sounds were coming closer. Shizuo's mind was preoccupied with Izaya anyway. How was he going to fix this?

No, he thought, he couldn't fix this. Izaya had said he never wanted to see him again, and he sounded like he meant it. It was probably all a game to him, just so that one day he could hurt him really really bad. Those sorts of thought filled his mind and swirled into a dense cloud of depression.

Someone yelled, "Now," making Shizuo turn from reflex.

The blonde got a quick glance at a couple dozen or so men dressed in suits, each holding a gun up. Then there were several flashes, loud bangs too. He jerked back three times, and then there was the slow realization of pain. He fell to his knees as he watched the men in suits run. He recognized them, since he had once beaten the living shit out of most of them.

They were the yakuza's henchmen.

Now, Shizuo had been in this position before, when the Blue Squares playing as Yellow Scarves had shot him. He had a moment of weakness, but he felt he could fight back. He could run after them, he thought. He could beat them, he thought. His stomach, leg, and shoulder were hurting, but not **too** bad.

That was when the dark thoughts caught up, as did the bleeding. What was the point in running after and beating them, if when he was done, Izaya wasn't going to be there to smile at him cheekily and taunt him? There was none, and he knew it. There was no point in living without the little louse to make him want it. Not many people would mourn him anyway. He was a monster, and being killed by bleeding out in the street fit that image.

So he fell forward and let go. Fading into unconsciousness, he saw a figure run toward him and kneel next to his body. Hysterical screaming filled his eardrums, and then it was all black.

Time didn't stop there though.

A girl knelt next to Shizuo's dying body, clutching a cell phone in one hand, and his hand in another. She talked with emergency services for several minutes until they showed up, crying as she saw the blood trickle out onto the road. When they showed up, they took Shizuo to Raira General Hospital, and the woman came along to oversee it.

She was a nice girl, once who couldn't stand seeing someone in pain. Her name was Tabatha, and she was raised in America for the first ten years of her life. Short, chin-length, chestnut hair and a pair of twinkling gray-blue eyes that would widen when she was happy, excited, or interested, even only minutely, made people think she was a bit of an oddball. She was only fourteen too.

* * *

Izaya was sulking. He walked aimlessly around his office, staring at Celty's head, playing out games on his triangular game board that he thought might be fun to try, paging through his many books, trolling the Dollars website, and a lot of other pointless activities that only resulted in more boredom and disappointment.

While he was sipping his fourth cup of coffee that night, the phone rang. The shrill office phone beeped and blinked it's little red light. Izaya launched himself across the room and tackled the phone, picking it up off of the receiver on the fourth ring. "Hello? Who am I speaking with?"

"Is this Mr. Orihara?" A timid voice asked. It was a boy, probably late teens, early twenties, and he sounded nervous.

"Yes it is, and who am I speaking with?"

"Uh, my name's Officer Takahiko. I was told to make a call to you if anything came up on the police scanner that had to do with Shizuo Heiwajima...and something has."

"Well? Spit it out. What did Shizu-chan do this time?" He probably went and broke something again, Izaya thought.

There was a pause, then the voice resumed, "Uh, well...he got shot."

"He's gotten shot before, and he's been fine. Is there anything else?" On the outside, he sounded like he couldn't really give a shit. Inside, Izaya was having a melt down. He probably went to Shinra's again. He's just have to text Celty and ask, and everything would be in order.

"Um, well that's the thing. He's in the ICU at Raira General, and he might not pull through. He bled too much..."

"Give me the details. NOW." Izaya's voice got hard so suddenly that it produced another pause on the other line.

"A girl named...Tabatha heard a series of gunshots outside of her house an hour ago and went outside to investigate. She saw many suited men run from the premises, leaving a man shot in the street. She called emergency services and got him an ambulance, we got the call from the hospital a few minutes ago."

"Thank you, goodbye." Izaya hung up and grabbed his jacket as he dashed out the door. He ran down the flights of stairs, since that was much faster than the elevator. When he ran out the lobby doors, a couple were hailing a cab. The man opened the door for the woman, but Izaya shoved past them, hopped in, and shut the door.

"**Raira General! Now!**" He yelled, looking quite frantic. His entire body trembled, and he simply couldn't help it. Izaya's fear for his monstrosity of a love was colossal.

The driver, who really didn't care who was in the cab, as long as they paid, drove. And he drove fast, ignoring all traffic signals, crossing people, ect. as he made it to the hospital in record time. Izaya shoved a fistful of bills at the driver as he exited the cab, entering the building at break-neck speed.

"Where is Shizu-chan's room?" He asked at the front desk, breathless from running and the terror of his monster's well being.

"Excuse me?" The woman asked, arching an eyebrow at him as she said, "Visiting hours are over, sir. I can't tell you that."

"Tell me, dammit! My Shizu-chan was shot, and I am **not** leaving until I see him! So tell me!" His red eyes flashed with rage, startling her.

After a brief look at her computer, she stammered, "U-Uh, room...room 3-307."

"Finally," he growled, moving quickly through the hospital to the elevator. He hit the button for the 3rd floor and rode up impatiently. Izaya ran into room 307 and stopped short while he assessed the damage. Shizuo was asleep with only his torso exposed from the blankets. Bandages wrapped around him tightly, each were slightly stained with blood. The blonde was slightly sweaty, with a look of unease on his sleeping face.

Izaya pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat, resting his head on the mattress to wait for the monster of a man to wake up.

* * *

Sound came back first in this instance. The sound of distant hospital noise, the quiet hum of machines, the occasional cough, and the steps of passing nurses. Then the feeling of the slightly scratchy sheets and the pressure of someone holding his hand. Smells of disinfectant and the general strange, disgusting smell of a hospital. His eyes opened slowly, letting the bright flourescent light hurt his eyes as he stared up at the white ceiling. Moving slowly, he turned his head to see who was clutching his hand in a death grip.

Shizuo was surprised to see Izaya there. The flea's hand trembled slightly, even though the owner of it was asleep. He was curled up in a chair next to the bed, one that was pushed as close as possible to him. The poor man looked like he was troubled, and had been crying. After a quick glance at the clock, he wondered how the nurses hadn't thrown him out, and then he remembered the flea's temper.

"Flea. Wake up."

Izaya twitched and looked up blearily, a look of shock entering his face. Then a series of mood swings happened. Shock to happiness, happiness to confusion, and confusion to fury. And with fury, he lifted the hand that had held Shizuo's and smacked him hard across the face. The flea then crawled onto the bed and into his lap.

"You are such a stupid, arrogant, gawking, clumsy, short-tempered, exasperating, idiotic, useless, asshole of a monstrosity. Why the hell did you scare me like that? I thought you were going to die! I thought I was going to lose you for good! How selfish would that be? Don't you think about what I need? Because I need you, Shizu-chan. I need you alive and well and with me, because you are mine and I'm never EVER going to give you up. You remember that," he prodded Shizuo's chest with a finger tip before he flung his arms around the blonde's neck and started sobbing.

The flea clung to him for several minutes before he spoke again. "So promise me that you'll never pull this again. You'll never make me scared like this again."

Shizuo, who was amused by the flea being so straight forward, nodded. "Deal. I won't ever make you worry again."

"Good. I love you, Shizu-chan," Izaya said as he pressed a soft kiss to the blonde's lips.


	8. Announcement

_**ATTENTION!**_

This is an announcement for my writers block. I simply don't know what should come next in this story. I want to continue it though, because I enjoy writing for it. So I put up a poll on my profile that lists some plot lines I could use. If you genuinely enjoy the story, I'd appreciate it if you went to my profile and voted, so I can know what to write. I have no favorite, obviously.

Here's a list of what you can vote for:

1. Visiting family. (aka: Introducing Kururi, Mairu, and Kasuka.)

2. A birthday. (probably Izaya's)

3. Valentine's Day (Shizuo forgetting)

4. Onigiri's death. (Izaya mourning his fish)

5. M-preg (Self explanatory)

6. A creepy stalker. (open to suggestions)

7. Wanting to go on vacation. (Izaya begging to go to the beach)

8. Erika turning Izaya into a fanboy. (How Shizuo deals with Izaya now fanboying, reading fanfics/doujins, and obsessing over yaoi)

9. One of them is forced to cosplay. (I'm open to suggestions to who cosplays, and as who)

10. Discovery of an embarrassing picture. (Open to suggestions)

So **_PLEASE_** vote, or there won't be another chapter for a very long time. I mean, I've got seven other fics to work on, but I want to work on this one too.


	9. Announcement 2

_**Attention!**_

**I feel like I may be getting your hopes up for the next real chapter, and if so, I'm sorry. I just have a lot of announcements it seems. *le sigh***

**Anyway, I've decided on the new plot. M-preg, which was the most wanted choice, will be happening very soon, just not in the next chapter because I had to make a reason for it. All plot lines in the first Announcement are going to be used, just in very different ways than what were originally intended. It seems this fic is going to take a turn for the family-oriented, and it's going to be sickeningly fluffy.**

**Anyway, I posted a new poll for this fic. It's to decide what their child is going to be like. Can you guys also PM/review to tell me names you might like to see too? I'd really appreciate that.**

For Shizaya's child, pick one of each characteristic:  
{Cat 1} Boy  
{Cat 1) Girl

{Cat 2} Brown hair (like Shizuo's)  
{Cat 2} Black hair (like Izaya's)

{Cat 3} Brown eyes (like Shizuo's)  
{Cat 3} Red eyes (like Izaya's)

{Cat 4} Glasses  
{Cat 4} 20/20 eyesight

{Cat 5} Shizuo's strength  
{Cat 5} Izaya's agility

{Cat 6} A pacifist, very serene and quiet, can think rationally, and tends to ignore parents loving bickering. People think that their quietness is because of a mental issue, and find them slightly disturbing. They tend to get lost easily, to the point that their parents gave them a cell phone to call them in case it happened again.  
{Cat 6} Has Shizuo's unrestrained anger, gets in fights a lot (not saying that they win them all the time), and is somewhat clumsy. Acts tough, but is overall something of a crybaby.  
{Cat 6} Conniving, has ways to confuse people, gets what they want, extremely spoiled, and genuinely annoyingly cheerful. Something of a kleptomaniac, and tends to destroy other people's property.  
{Cat 6} A bubbly, cute sort of kid who likes snacks and toys a bit too much. Good at schoolwork, and gets things done very quickly and efficiently. Becomes easily bored, but loves all kinds of games and activities. Parents have to work to keep them occupied.

{Cat 7} Likes bitter foods (like Izaya)  
{Cat 7} Likes sweet foods and milk (like Shizuo)

{Cat 8} Tall  
{Cat 8} Average sized  
{Cat 8} Short

{Cat 9} Finds humanity fun and interesting, but is a loner  
{Cat 9} Is annoyed by most other people  
{Cat 9} Makes friends easily, and doesn't feel an extreme towards humans

**Thank you, sorry for not uploading a chapter, and yeah...I was really happy with the amount of people who responded! Let's try to make it even more this time! *does a stupid "reviews are love" interpretive dance***


	10. Deal 8

((I've finished deciding what the kid is going to be like. I tried to take your opinions into account, but I did have to change a few things because that's just how I am. The kid is going to be a girl, so I need Japanese girl names to be sent in with the next review. Thank you! This chapter is going to be a set up for the next, so it's not that long. I think the next is going to be back into the normal length though. Sorry for all of this!))

* * *

It was around nine AM when Izaya woke up and crawled out of bed that Saturday morning. Shizuo had the day off, so he was sleeping in as long as possible. The dark-haired man padded on to the kitchen to get some cereal. He poured himself a bowl, then sat on the counter next to the fish tank.

Izaya had gotten a practical tank with the best filter available for Onigiri. He fed him well, every day, and was very proud of how big the fish had grown since he got it. Every day, Izaya would eat his breakfast next to his fish and watch it for a few minutes. Now, looking over at it, Izaya stilled and set his bowl down.

The red-eyed man walked calmly back to the bedroom and woke Shizuo up. "Come to the kitchen, I need you to confirm something."

Shizuo groaned and sat up, walking to the kitchen with his boyfriend. "What do I need to confirm."

"Look at Onigiri," Izaya said in a strained voice.

The fish, Izaya's baby, was floating belly up in the tank. Dead. Shizuo froze, knowing this was not good.

"My baby's dead, isn't he?" The shorter asked in a trembling voice.

"Yeah...Onigiri's dead."

Izaya sank to the floor and began to cry. Shizuo picked him up and carried him back to bed, knowing that the other wasn't going to want to leave the apartment for a while. After a week of Izaya just inhabiting the apartment, breaking into tears at what seemed like random times, Shizuo pulled him into his arms.

"How about I take you to bed and cheer you up, then we go out for ice cream? Onigiri liked watching you live, just like you did to him, and what you're doing now isn't living."

Izaya sniffled and mumbled, "Deal."

That being said, Shizuo lifted him off the ground and walked back to the bedroom.


	11. Deal 9

((God this is really OOC. Anyway, here's my little piece of fanservice.))

* * *

Izaya didn't know why he was doing this, it seemed stupid and could end badly in so many ways. He needed another baby, one who didn't die after a few months, to get over Onigiri. And it was really Shinra's fault for planting the idea in his head...months ago when he couldn't have possibly known that his red-eyed friend was going to have a mental breakdown over a fish.

* * *

*Cue Flashback*

_Shinra had called him up in the middle of the night, a night when Shizuo wasn't staying over, and had babbled incoherently for a few moments before Izaya hushed him_.

_"What's this about, Shinra? It's __**late**__," he said._

_"Izaya! I just made a breakthrough! This is going to revolutionize life as we know it!"_

_"Shinra, get to the point! I'm tired!" Izaya whined._

_His scientist friend giggled with glee, "I created a serum that will allow men to get pregnant."_

_"You what?"_

_"I was running some tests a few weeks ago with some male body cell samples, trying to see if I could replicate Shizuo's strength with them...which I couldn't...and an accident happened. So the samples started cell division, but the new cells were a female's egg cell. So I tampered with the solution a bit and I can now create male pregnancy!"_

_"What happens when a male get's preggers, Shinra?" Izaya asked boredly._

_"Well, some of the same symptoms as a normal pregnancy I suppose. I haven't tested it yet on humans. I'm almost positive that a C-section will have to be performed because men won't grow a uterus or a birthing canal with the serum."_

_"Cool," Izaya yawned. "Tell me more tomorrow, okay?" Then he hung up. _

*End Flashback*

* * *

The conversation was never brought up again, but that didn't mean that Izaya had forgotten. In fact he was very glad that Shinra had made that discovery, because he was going to use the serum on himself. After all, he knew that Shinra would keep it around, and that he'd label it.

So Izaya had taken the liberty of breaking into Shinra and Celty's apartment when they were both out on business. Business that Izaya had arranged, but business nonetheless. The short man was rifling through Shinra's drawers, filing cabinets, desk, fridge, couch, and more. After about an hour of searching, he eventually found it within one of the hanging lights in a kitchen. It was a small vial of fluid, meant to be injected.

On the label it said: "M-preg: only kept for scientific purposes. Do not let Izaya touch!"

_Wow, _Izaya thought,_ Shinra sure knows me._ Izaya grabbed a needle from one of the cabinets and injected the serum into his arm. Once the deed was done, he straightened things up and left, because Shizuo was going to be home soon, and he was going to surprise him with sex.

* * *

The next morning, Izaya bolted from bed earlier than usual. After Onigiri died, he prefered to stay in bed with Shizuo until his tall lover had to go to work. Shizuo sat up and watched the small man dart to the bathroom, then a few moments later came the retching and vomiting sounds. Shizuo grabbed a phone to call Shinra and went to the bathroom to watch over the sick man. As the phone rang, the blonde rubbed Izaya's back in circles to soothe him, but the broker just clung to the toilet bowl, panting and spitting vomit.

"Hello?" Shinra answered when it picked up.

"Hey, Shinra, Izaya's throwing up. What's wrong?"

There was a bit of fumbling with the phone on the other end, then a scoot of a chair across tile. A moment later, Shinra sighed into the phone, "He might be, uh, pregnant."

"What?!" Shizuo exclaimed, a completely blindsided look on his face. Izaya winced and glanced up at him guiltily. He was feeling a little less confident about his whole escapade now.

"Well, you see, I had accidentally created something that could make a male pregnant a while ago. After Izaya's fish died, I hid it in my apartment because I was afraid something like this might happen and he wouldn't discuss it with you and it would hurt your relationship. I guess he found it, because the vial's empty, and he's throwing up at six in the morning," Shinra explained quickly in a 'please don't kill me' voice.

"Bye."

"Wait! Please don't be mad at-" Shinra began before Shizuo hung up.

His stomach empty, Izaya was now sitting up, eyeing his monster warily. Nervous as he was, he still felt a little dizzy from upchucking all of his food into the toilet so early in the morning, so one hand rested on the edge of the bowl. Shizuo was scowling at him, but it was one that said that he didn't know what to think.

"Are you mad at me, Shizu-chan?" Izaya asked, feeling a little raw and scared. He hadn't felt this afraid since Shizuo's near-death experience, and was once again thinking he had made a huge mistake.

"Yes."

"I'm sorry Shizu-chan, I really am." Little tears pinpricked his eyes as he rushed to get his point across. "Idon'tknowwhatIwasthinkingpleasedon'tleavemeShizu -chanIloveyousomuchI'lldoanythingpleasejustdon't-" 

Shizuo held his hand up to silence him, "I'm mad because you didn't tell me that you were going to do this, not that you're pregnant. "

"S-so you're okay with us having a baby?" Izaya squeaked.

"Yes, a little nervous, but yes."

"And you'll stay and help me take care of it?"

"Deal. I have to take care of you too." A wide grin spread across Izaya's face as Shizuo said that. It was different from his maniacal, 'I'm a total fucking lunatic' smile, or his 'I know something that you don't know and it's going to kill you' smile. It was purely happy.

* * *

((I think it'll be a while until the next chapter's up. I've got some oneshots I wanna work on, and I wanna redo a fic that I just can't get right))


End file.
